Can dying people stay in the hospital if they need care?
The most surprising thing that people learn when they find themselves in this situation relates to hospitalization. Like most other things, times have changed. New moms are discharged from the hospital in 24-48 hours; open-heart surgery patients go home in 3-5 days. And approaching death does not “qualify” a patient for hospitalization. Patients are hospitalized for acute illness or symptoms. Acute is defined as “having severe symptoms of short duration.” Even patients who are dying may not meet these criteria if they have good symptom control (which is certainly the goal of quality comfort care). So, people getting good hospice care with well-managed symptoms and a stable decline do not meet the acute care criteria for hospital admission and care. Studies overwhelmingly show that most people prefer to die at home. For people with adequate resources for care giving (family, friends, or finances), dying at home is usually possible. Even people without those resources will remain at home
